KIEV: Ukraine on Saturday complained of “unprecedented and unacceptable” calls from the Eurovision Song Contest’s organisers for it to lift an entry ban on Russia’s contestant. In an angry row ahead of the kitsch song contest in May to be hosted in Kiev, Ukraine has barred Russia’s 27-year-old singer Yulia Samoilova...

Turkey is buying more wheat from other countries after restricting imports from its top supplier Russia as part of a food-trade dispute.In the last two weeks, Turkish firms agreed to import as much as 300,000 metric tonnes of Baltic grain, and more cargoes are being lined up, according to Linas Agro. That’s more than Turkey normally buys...

When it comes to finding a solution to the current political violence in the name of Islam, the most common prognosis is that Islam needs reform to make it politically civil and compatible with liberal political principles. Such an assessment is puzzling, because reforms of Islam under the influence of the liberal West actually happened almost...

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has reassured his nervous European counterparts over Washington’s commitment to Nato and pressed them again to spend more on defence, triggering a rebuke from Germany.Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it was neither “reachable nor desirable” for Germany to spend the agreed Nato target of 2% of member...

Roger Federer dramatically fought his way into the Miami Open semi-finals with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6) victory over Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych on Thursday. The 35-year-old Swiss, who has already won the Australian Open and Indian Wells so far this year, extended his win streak over Berdych to seven matches. There was plenty of tension in the...